Panel planned to create noise-control proposal

Tuesday

Mar 5, 2013 at 1:33 AM

By JESSIE VAN BERKEL

Sarasota is trying to figure out how to handle all the noise.

Residents almost a mile away from Dr. Martin Luther King Way wake up at 3 a.m., when a group of cars and trucks congregate on the street and blast the speakers. They want the city to find a way to stop their rooms from rattling.

In the heart of downtown, people who live in the condos have also pleaded with officials — who are considering looser restrictions on outdoor amplified music — to keep their homes quiet.

While commissioners and residents hunt for compromise, police are left to field countless calls from the two parts of the city.

Vernell Coleman is one of those callers. She lives in Newtown, and works two jobs. When she gets home at midnight, the “boom, boom, boom” of speakers prevents her from falling asleep. Her grandchildren who stay at her house also can't get a full night's sleep.

After a police sergeant played a video of the scene, Commissioner Willie Shaw, who represents the district that includes Newtown, told commissioners they wouldn't believe the vehicles' noise level.

“They could shake this building if one of them passed here now,” Shaw said.

The commission is working with city attorneys to craft an ordinance making it unlawful for people to play sound that is “plainly audible” 50 feet from their vehicle. The limitation would last from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday night through Friday morning, and 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. Friday night through Sunday morning.

The Florida Supreme Court previously found a statute regulating loud car music was unconstitutional because commercial and political state speech was exempt. When speech is regulated based on content it often faces scrutiny. However, the court upheld the “plainly audible” standard.

Commissioners asked staff to come back with a different plan for punishing violators, but seemed ready to move forward quickly with changes.

Meanwhile, the downtown noise ordinance debate quickly devolved into a quagmire of opinions, and often included condo residents facing off with musicians. People on both sides of the debate threw up their hands in frustration Monday, but still asked one another to be reasonable.

Commissioners decided to form an ad-hoc committee of staff and citizens to come up with a proposal. Commissioner Paul Caragiulo said the meetings will be well-attended.

At the commission meeting, two dozen people spoke either in favor or against potential changes, including pushing enforcement of outdoor amplified music later and louder.

“We are trying to be good neighbors,” said well-known musician Twinkle Schascle Yochim, who plays at Eat Here. “I'm not trying to be a nuisance like in Newtown with the blaring.”

David Mills, who lives a couple blocks from Eat Here, sat next to her at the commission table. After she spoke he turned to her and said he would be fine with her singing until 4 a.m., as long as she took it inside.

Caragiulo has held two public meetings on the issue since October. In a 234-page report to the commission, he posited 14 questions to commissioners, including whether complaints should be anonymous and whether police should be enforcing this.

Two of the people who said they worked with Caragiulo and had been at the heart of the issue— Peter Fanning of the Downtown Sarasota Condo Association and Rich Swier Jr., who founded the HuB business incubator — said many people are unwilling to discuss reasonable fixes.

“They are unwilling to sit at a table and discuss technology,” Swier said. “We'll have this fight for another 20 years.”

Fanning and others suggested that for the time being, the city needs to enforce its current rules. Outdoor amplified music is not allowed after 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

Commissioner Terry Turner asked for more vigorous enforcement of the rules by police as the city continues to discuss the issue. He was wary of the need for change and said the property taxes from the residents are vital to the city.

“The goose that's laying the golden egg in Sarasota is in fact the resident and the condo owner,” Turner said. “If they leave, this city is in deep trouble.”

Whether the city sees an ordinance change downtown could depend on who wins the March 12 election for two at-large commission seats.

At candidate forums around the city, the six candidates running in the race have been repeatedly questioned about their stance on the noise ordinance.